28 Oct Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

A while ago, Cari from Dinnervibe suggested I make a Halloween-themed ice cream. As you know, it doesn’t take much to persuade me to whip out my Cuisinart, so even though the weather is turning cold, I accepted her ice cream challenge. Perhaps I’m in a rut, but instead of creating a black licorice ice cream with raspberry blood swirl and marshmallow sauce cobwebs, I decided on a flavour that could carry itself long into the upcoming holidays — Pumpkin Pie.

Now, if you don’t like the dessert that inspired this chilled treat, not even the Great Pumpkin himself is going to persuade you to embrace this dish. After all, it tastes exactly like frozen — somewhat airy — pumpkin pie. And so it should. After all, it’s basically my pumpkin pie recipe, only with more dairy and no eggs. For those with a pumpkin aversion, might I suggest some old-fashioned, unspooky Maple Walnut Ice Cream, instead?

Since it’s a crustless version on the classic dessert, WITH the whipped cream topping mixed in, all this dish needed was a drizzle of maple syrup. Ah, autumn perfection. All treat. No tricks.

So, does the thought of pie in ice cream form appeal to you? Or would you miss the crust?

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32 Comments

Susan Hoffman

Sounds wonderful! A few years ago we had pumpkin ice cream at the General Store in Big Bay (ON), and it was delicious so I am sure your version will be as well. They make their own ice cream at the General Store so it is a popular place all summer.

Really?! Those tiny places can have the best food. It’s rare to find homemade ice cream outside a specialty shop.

I’d never heard of pumpkin ice cream before Cari suggested something Halloween. I thought I’d made it up. Apparently not. The I began researching and all the recipes I found called for stirring pumpkin and spices into ready-made vanilla ice cream. Guess your General Store beat me to it!

Susan Hoffman

The General Store’s ice cream has been famous in that part of Ontario for awhile. We have a cottage near Wiarton and try to go over at least once every summer. I don’t think they repeated the pumpkin flavour again but we liked it, and your version sounds devine. A great idea!

I’m going to shamefully admit that I don’t like pumpkin pie. Odd too, because I adore the warm spices … I think its a textural thing for me. Which leads me to believe that I might well enjoy your pumpkin pie ice cream! All the flavor minus the custardy texture sounds like a winner to me, Charmian!

At least you cut the gourd before baking it. My sister once cooked a squash in the microwave without piercing it properly and it exploded — blew the door open, spewed pulp across the room and scared me half to death. As Murphy would have it, I was standing in front of the microwave at the time.

there’s a group that sells pumpkin frozen yogurt at the regional fair near here every year. while you might not at first think the tang of yogurt would work with the pumpkin and spices, actually it’s great.

rayna

I just made your pumpkin ice cream tonite, looking for a seasonal treat…just in the mood for something pumpkin-y! This was so easy, I will definitely make it again. The maple syrup adds a wonderful autumn sweetness.

Thanks so much for taking the time to A) make my ice cream and B) let me know how it worked. I’m so glad you tried it with the maple syrup. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream and maple syrup is called “Mennonite Style” and is one of my favourites.

Frimmy

I think this ice cream sounds perfect! If you missed the crust you could always stir in a few gingerbread nuggets for texture. I lived on Baskin Robbins Baklava ice cream while they had it. I didn’t miss the classic square form at all!

You don’t need to miss the crust…
I was thinking about making some holiday oriented dessert and looked up pumpkin pie ice cream and found your recipe. It’s awesome but to round out the holdiay vibe, I made oatmeal cookie dough, froze little balls of it, and tossed those in.

Jen

I made this recipe this weekend & the flavor is really good, but the texture came out not very smooth, kind of grainy. I’ve not made much ice cream before, so maybe I screwed something up in the making process? Any help would be appreciated!

This ice cream isn’t as silky as a French ice cream because it doesn’t have eggs. Plus, the pumpkin will add a bit of chew you don’t normally get in an ice cream. You likely didn’t screw anything up. You can make it smoother by puréeing the ice cream mixture in a blender and then straining it through a fine sieve. It will take an extra step but should smooth things out a bit.

Hope this helps.

Fitzer

Did this work for anyone? It did not even come close to forming up in an ice cream machine I have had a lot of success with in the past. Not sure why though, as the recipe seems pretty standard in that it is a standard cream that is flavored. I did use fresh pumpkin puree, but don’t know why that would make a difference. Too bad..

Charmian Christie

I’m not sure what the problem is. The photograph is of the pumpkin ice cream I made using this recipe, and as you can see, it holds together. I’ve had other people make it without issue, however yours clearly didn’t work. This recipe uses a standard ice cream ratio, which is always worked for me in the past. I don’t think fresh pumpkin purée should have been the issue unless it was extremely liquid. Sorry I can’t provide a more concrete answer.